April Fools!
by bambooplant123
Summary: Meilin is hurting after her father's death. What happens when April Fools Day comes?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I am not one of the authors of Spirit Animals.**

Meilin quietly mused over what had occurred in the last… how many days? She could not keep track.

Her mind replayed the scene when her father, General Teng had died. With his last words, he had told her something about betraying and bile. She wondered what he had meant. Was it possible that he had been one of the infiltrators in Zhong? No! She shoved that horrid thought into the back of her brain.

Jhi snorted. Meilin glanced at her, briefly disturbed. The panda slowly and heavily clumped to her feet, chewing a bamboo stalk between her teeth, although how she had gotten it was a mystery to Meilin.

Suddenly, Rollan burst into the room. Meilin, startled, was a bit too slow to conceal the sadness on her face, though, she quickly wiped it off, embarrassed that he, out of all people had seen her true emotion. She adopted a proud and haughty look.

" Come see! Apparently Keith is asking Lenori out! " he said, an edge of excitement creeping into his voice.

" Where?"

" At the Moon Tower!"

Meilin prided herself on ignoring trivial things, like this event, but she had to admit it- she was curious, but not surprised. It had been evident that Keith had had a crush on LEnori forever.

Together, they raced to the Moon Tower. Up there, there was a bit of whispering. Meilin cocked her head and frowned. She couldn't hear Keith or Lenori. Beside her Rollan grinned. A prank? There was nobody there, at least not what she could see, except for the piles of instruments.

Then, out of nowhere, came a nervous shout. "April Fools!"

A groan. " Connor, you weren't supposed to say that yet!" came Abeke's voice in a location Meilin couldn't pinpoint.

" Sorry," Connor said sheepishly, as he extracted himself from the instruments.

" Umm… so what's the prank?" Meilin asked.

She suddenly heard a grunt, and a second later, a bucket of cold water came rushing down on her head, leaving her completely soggy.

" Ha! You look like a drowned rat!" Rollan snorted.

Meilin shook her head, her hair sending out droplets of water splattering on the boys. "Why me?" She asked, then continued. " You could have played the prank on anybody else!"

" True, but you were the one who needed cheering out of us all, " Abeke said.

Meilin smiled, the first one since her father had died. "Thanks."


	2. REWRITE

**REWRITE - 7/7/16**

Meilin didn't know what she was doing anymore. She hated to admit it, but she was lost in a sea of grief and doubt, doubt over her father's loyalty to Zhong, and what that could mean for her. She'd been trained by the best tutors in Zhong, and she knew that betrayal and bile as her father's last words couldn't mean anything good. The thought that her own father, the kind-hearted man she knew that watched her walk her first steps, accompanied her through all the things in life could've fed her bile made actual bile coil up in her stomach and an uncomfortable feeling spread through her. Propping her chin up on her hand, she sighed for the twenty-eighth time in the last ten hours, staring out at the window at nowhere, focusing on two figures leisurely walking on the stone path that altogether reminded her to much of _her _own garden, before the nectar ceremony, before Jhi, before _everything_ changed. It seemed like it had been years rather than months that had passed when she was a wealthy Zhongese general's daughter, adored by all, only worried about the safety of her father and whether she looked pretty or not and how good she was at combat. Now it seemed like she was too far in a thrashing river, swept farther and farther than she would've allowed had she had control of her own life. She hated the thought of that, she hated wondering if she truly only wanted to save Erdas for her Zhong, for her father, and not for the people themselves to have a better life, rid of fear and danger.

Meilin had first applied cosmetics on her face when she was eight. She hadn't hesitated, instead reaching straight for the lipstick and spreading it on her lips, a rose color that implied of a dangerous side, a side filled with thorns and drew blood from fingers. Later, her maidens had told her she truly was a 'grown' woman now. She had been happy, so happy that she had danced in her room, breaking composure. Now, she felt like she was eight year old again, but instead of reaching eagerly for the lipstick, she hesitated. If saving Erdas meant that she would truly grow up, leave her childhood so soon like the time to apply a layer of lipstick, she didn't know if she was ready. If she would ever be ready. And it scared her. It scared her as much as she had been happy all those years ago.

Meilin roughly pushed herself away from the windowsill, wiping her tears away with a spare handkerchief that her father had given her. It seemed that little pieces of him rested in possessions of Meilin, but never within the girl. If he was here, he would've shaken her by the shoulder, telling her how brave she was, how capable she was… and he would've told her to have fun, while she could. It was April fools day, a holiday that she thought Rollan and Connor celebrated. Maybe she could scare them…

And the door creaked open, and in came Rollan, jumping up and down, his face pink and his eyes shining. "Keith's asking Lenori out! Come on, come on!" Without waiting for an answer, he seized Meilin's hand, and practically dragged her to the Moon Tower, pushing open the door.

"April Fools!" a familiar voice shouted. Meilin heard a groan, a thump, then:

"CONNOR!" Abeke yelled. "After the prank, after the prank! You ruined it!"

Meilin started laughing, all the pent up frustrations and stress bursting from her. Even when Abeke tipped a bucket of ice cold water on her, she didn't stop laughing. When Abeke descended down, she beckoned them, and enveloped them all in a group bear hug that neither of them made a move to exit anytime soon.

* * *

I decided to rewrite this. It was originally written almost two years ago, and I thought that it was pretty bad, and it made me cringe everytime I read it. I can't promise you this is better (although I think it is), but I think that it gives you a little bigger glimpse in Meilin's thoughts, rather than a summary of, "Look, I don't want to believe my dad betrayed me by giving me bile, and here I am using Jhi as a distraction. How did she get bamboo anyway? Oh right, I gave it to her." It may be a little rushed, but now I'm not exactly that big of a fan of SA so I didn't really have a lot of motivation. Enjoy reading!


End file.
